Monday, November 26, 2012

Last month, Led Zeppelin manager Peter Mensch confirmed that guitarist Jimmy Page was holed up in a west London studio "remastering every Led Zeppelin LP."

Now, in a new session with Rolling Stone, Page is stepping forward to discuss the long-term project.

"The catalog was last remastered 20 years ago," said Jimmy, referring to the 1990 release of the four-CD box set, "Led Zeppelin.""That's a long time. Everything is being transferred from analog to a higher-resolution digital format. That's one of the problems with the Zeppelin stuff. It sounds ridiculous on MP3. You can't hear what's there properly."

The group did not record a lot of additional songs for each LP. "But there was an overage of material – different versions of things, different approaches to the mixes," Page explained. He mentioned experiments with equipment and sound on early alternative takes at Headley Grange, the English manor where Zeppelin recorded some of their most iconic work, particularly their 1971 untitled fourth album.

"The classic there was 'When the Levee Breaks,'" Page said, "where the drums were set up in the hallway. You know what it sounded like – immense – from the recorded version. But we used the drums in the hall for a number of things, like 'Kashmir' [on 1975's "Physical Graffiti"] – some with closer miking. So there were a lot of different approaches. It will be fascinating for people to witness the work in progress."

As far as a timeline on the remasters, Page says "I would hope it is sooner rather than later. But it will be in the course of next year and going on for awhile."

Zeppelin just released their new live set, “Celebration Day,” which captures the band in concert at London’s 02 Arena in December 2007.